Improvement in total insulation of telegraph lines and apparatus



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G. W. NICHOLS. TOTAL INSULATION 0F TELEGRAPH LINESAND APPARATUS.

Patented Sept.'10, 1867.

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Letters Patent No. 68.779, dated Saptember lo, 186T.

IMPROVEMENT m TOTAL INSULATION or TELEGRAPH LINES run APPARATUS.

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Be it known that I, G. W. NICHOLS, of Chicago, State of Illinois, havc inventcd new and useful improvements in galvanic batteries, telegraph apparatus, and methods of insulation, which I-denominate Nicholss Total Insulation Telegraph; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the drawings that accompany and form a part of these specifications; in whieh--- Figure 1, perspective view of my improved battery-cup. Figure 2, perspective view of magnet, thumb-key, and some other parts. Figure 3, sectional view. l Figure 4, sectional view of battery-cup. I Figure 5, sectional view, bisecting vertically the magnet, and surrounding coils, vibrating armature, andi thumb-key connection.

Letter A, battery-cup; letter B, magnet-stand; letter O, magnet; letters D D, coils of wire around the arms of the magnets; letter 0, thumhkcy; letterf, point of connection when working the key; letter 9', vibrating armature; letter 1:, point for breaking and closing with different lines or line-connections; letter 1', brace operating to raise slightly the spring j, which breaks the contact; letter In, the wires leading to a distant station and rcthrn letter Z, condueting-wire, leading from the magnet-coils to the lt'ey 0; letter rigwire leading from the key 2 to the wire is; letter 11-, cover of the battery; letter 0, an insulating substance, of gutta pcrcha, rubber, silk, or any other good and reliable insulator; .letter p, extra insulators, in the form of short tubes of gutta percha, or other suitable substance, and placed orer the other insulators at the movable parts or points of connecting and disconnecting; letters, clamp for the cover of the battery.

The object of my invention is to provide against the disturbing influences of thcporturbations of the electricity of the earth, and t c prevent the line from becoming inoperative by having the battery force dissipated by educt on, through the agency of the moisture of the atmosphere, as also to protect the line from the ruinous efiects of uncontrollable electrical lluid, with which the wires become surcharged during thunder-storms, and often at other times.

From someone of the three above-mentioned causes, telegraph lines, as ordinarily constructed, are inoperative, and, for the time, worse than useless, for in times of great emergency one may trust the telegraph, and, after waiting, it uiiiiy be, a time sufficient for the ordinary mail to have compasscd the object,- find thp treacherous elements have betrayed him. v

I propose to remedy this by insulating totally the entire line-not the leading wires merely, but the magnet, the lattcry, the vibrating armaturc.-coating all the wires, and surrounding all the movable and adjustable points of opening and closing the circuit with non-conducting substances, so that the entire apparatus which forms the line proper is entirely shut out from all of the hcreinbci'ore-mcntioncd disturbing influences. I accomplish this, in the case illustrated, by surrounding the magnet-coils D, the exposed parts of the magnet C, the armature 9, all the connecting-wires, like land m, the field-lines 7c, and the metal plates on the thumb-key straps andon the armature with gutta percha, as indicated in the drawings by tho lcttero.

The model of battery represented in the drawings is of glass, and insulation is provided for by the guttapercha annular disk, represented also by the letter 0, shown in figs. 1 and 4. 'At the movable parts the letter 11 represents gutta-percha thimbles, or short tubes, and are drawn on overv the other parts, as represented in figs. 3 and 5. There may be as many of the line-connections, as represented at h in figs? and 3, as there are different linesto connect with at any given station. I I

The battery is'represented as of glass, and standing on glass knobs, and provided with gutta-percha stopper at w, through which the wires pass to reach the desired connections within. The battery in drawings beingol glass, anon-conducting substance, the stoppers a: prevent anypassage of electricity from without to the into rior of the battery. As before said, when the battery is made of a conductingsubstance, a non-conducting covering is used, as represented in fig. all This is what I call insulating the interior of the battery from atmospheric electricity. Batteriesof other material than glass may be used; but if not in themselves insulating they will be covered completely with some suitable insulating substance, wrapped around, as already'illustrated in the case of other parts of my apparatus, or applied in plastic or other forms, and with such modifications as the various forms and styles of battery may require Fig. 4 represents the entire buttery-cup as surrounded by the-non-couductor 0. So also there may 'bevvarious modifications of the methods of applying the insulating material. But these will all come withinthe scope oilm y device and invention, if confined to the matter of producing total insulation and relief from the hereinbefore-me'ntioned disturbing influences.

As before mentioned, may use various substances to produce the insulation dcsircdd Thc relay-magnet; when used, may be insulated by being placed in glass vessel, like the battery-cupin fi 1, or of other suitable A form. As apartial guard against the disturbance directly from the earth I sometiincs sct tl eibattery cup 3 especially if made of any substance for its outer parts not an insulator offitseli, on gutta-pcrcha feet'or knobs,v

or someothcr suitable insulator. I do also adopt this same for the magnet-stand and co njoining parts, as illustrated in figs. 2 and 5. And this same care to shut out all electricity fron the earth I extend to all parts of the apparatus, as a provision against disturbances in the battery or the operating magnet by induction.

Myinvcntioufloes not consist in thediscovery of any new medium of communication, nor in the discovery of any new material affording more perfect insulation, but in so constructing some'parts of the apparatus, and so insulating parts that form the line proper, or galvanic circuit, and, if need be, other parts, as to entirely remove all that'should be subject. to uians control from any and all of the disturbing causes hereinbeiore men? tioned, and which so often'render communication, even between points not far removed from each other, utterly impossible.

What I claim as my inventicn, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Surrounding or covering the various parts of telegraph apparatus, as specified and set forth, with an insulating substance, as and for the purposes specified. I

2. .The insulation of the interior of the hattery cup A, substantially as described andsct forth.

3. The covering of the'outersuriaco of the battery, when not made ot an insulating substance, with gutta percha or other suitable insulating material.

4. The total insulatio'n 'of the entire telegraph circuit, for the purposes specified and set forth..

5; The insulation of the relay-magnet, substantially in the manner specified.

' W. NICHOLS.

Witnesses:

Josnrn Nocx, A 0114s. F. WILsoN. 

